On One Continent For Now
by OfficiallyDone
Summary: Sequel to Split Across the Continents. Sophie is back in the US for the summer and is trying to navigate her relationship with her parents and the rest of the team but it seems like there is someone trying to make sure that that doesn't happen. Book 2. TIVA
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Tony, Ziva, and Sophie's story wasn't finished so here is the first chapter of the sequel. I hope everyone has a really happy new year. I will try to update a little more regularly but I have busy life so there may be weeks without an update. I apologize in advance for that.**

 **This story follows the events of Split Across the Continents and follows the advancement of Tony and Ziva's relationship as well as Sophie trying to navigate the new relationship with them.**

 **Enjoy!**

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to start our decent into Dulles International Airport so please fasten your seatbelts, stow your tray table and have your seat in an upright position and we'll have you on the ground shortly." The captain sounded tired as the intercom switched off. Sophie put her iPad onto her lap as she pushed her tray table up and contemplated seeing her parents for the first time in a few months. After meeting them accidentally whilst on a mission in the states previously, she had made the tough decision between keeping her life as a secret government agent in the UK or choosing to live with her parents in the states. She had picked the middle ground which was seeing them in the summer and for the holidays but retaining her life on campus and speaking on the phone every few days. The initial decision had fractured her relationship with them initially as they wanted her to go and live in the states but Sophie not being ready to leave. This was the first time she was going to see them in person since this agreement was put in place. She felt strangely calm throughout this entire trip. At the tender age of eleven, she had had to be an unaccompanied minor on the trip which had made Sophie laugh when Elaine first told her. Sophie had spent a week down in Mexico last spring which had resulted in her going missing whilst working for a drug dealer and now she had to fly unaccompanied with a flight attendant checking in on her every five minutes.

The rest of the flight was fairly unadventurous with them landing at the airport at the scheduled time. The flight attendant quickly chivvied her off the plane and they cut the line at passport control allowing Sophie to be one of the first people to arrive at the baggage claim. Despite all the line cutting, Sophie was fairly sure that her bag was against her in every possible was and was the second to last bag to arrive which caused the flight attendant to become irate which left Sophie wanting to tell her to leave her alone and she could find her way to the arrivals hall by herself. Eventually they finished the walk through to the arrivals hall and Sophie looked around to see if there were any familiar faces out there.

"Sophie! Sophie, over here!" She turned to see Tony waving at her. She quickly waved back and started over towards him before he pulled her into a hug.

"Wow, you've grown so much!" Sophie heard him say. She wondered if all adults were required to say this to prepubescent teens.

"Yeah, it's good to see you!" She replied as Tony signed her unaccompanied minor form and the flight attendant walked away. "How have you been?" She asked him as she pulled her suitcase along beside her.

"Solving cases, face timing you, watching movies, the usual." Sophie smiled at that. "What about you?"

"Ohh you know, the same." Sophie replied smirking a little. "I have only been on one mission actually but that's a pretty generous word for it. It was a copy-and-destroy mission." Tony looked at her quizzically so Sophie explained. "A massive group of us break into a suspects house, copy possibly incriminating documents then break stuff. We're meant to look like a group of kids breaking into someone's house for banter." Tony nodded as they reached the car. She shoved her suitcase into the back and then clambered into the front seat.

"How's Ziva?" Sophie asked quietly. It hadn't escaped her notice that Ziva wasn't there to greet her.

"We are in the middle of a case at the moment so Gibbs would only let one of us go. I won the rock paper scissors." Tony explained. "Which also means we need to go the navy yard unfortunately." Sophie nodded before realizing something else.

"What have you told them about me? As in what's the backstory?" She asked.

"Still haven't got one. They know that you are our daughter but that we can't tell them what you do normally so they have come up with their own stories.

Everyone is still trying to get over the fact that you exist let alone why you have been absent for so long. Anyway, here we are." Tony said as they joined the line up for the entrance to the Navy Yard. Despite working with NCIS for almost three months in the Spring, Sophie had never actually been to the Navy Yard, instead they had been in the surveillance house or at Gibbs' place. She looked up at the tall buildings and felt a little taken aback at just how big the Navy Yard was. There were what looked like a few sailors doing press ups in a field near them and Sophie felt a slight twinge as she thought back to Campus doing press ups in a muddy barren field. They drove down through a series of stop signs before reaching a parking lot.

"Is that… is that a hearse?" Sophie said as she looked at the stretched out car parked next to them.

"Uhh, yeah. That's Abby's." Tony said looking a Sophie's slightly shocked expression.

"I didn't know you could just drive one. Has she watched ghostbusters?"

"She might have done. You can probably ask her."

Sophie looked at the visitors badge that Tony had given her to pin on as he picked up his shiny gold NCIS badge. They were headed into the elevator and Sophie couldn't help but look at the walls and wonder how much of her parent's life had happened at NCIS. So much of it that she wasn't part of but at the same time was. In her head she had pictured the bullpen, as her parents called it, so many times but the one thing she had never pictured it being was orange. In her head it had always been white, or cream but never orange. Up on the wall beside her was the NCIS most wanted wall with some good mug shots and then a few which were terrible. Everyone was busy working as Sophie led them towards the middle few cubicles. She recognized Tim from earlier in the year who was hunched over his keyboard typing something rather quickly. A large desk which was relatively clear apart from a sport coat on the chair, she guessed was Gibbs's desk. Tony was going to the one that had stuff all over it and then the only one left was the tidy desk to her right which was empty at the moment. She smiled a little at the little Israeli flag in the pen holder and wondered where Ziva was.

"Hey McGee, where's Ziva?"

"In autopsy. Ducky said he found something new on the body." Tim said as he looked up and saw Sophie. "Hey, how was the flight?"

"Good. Watched a few movies. Some were pretty good and others were okay." Sophie finished as Tony began to steer her towards another elevator that would take them down to autopsy.

"You haven't met Ducky yet have you?" Sophie shook her head.

"So Ducky is our medical examiner so that means he is the one that autopsies the bodies and figures out how and when they died. Jimmy is his assistant." Tony said as they entered autopsy. It was much colder than Sophie imagined and stank of what Sophie guessed was a mixture of cleaning products and a decomposing body. They seemed to be crowded around a table that Sophie guessed held a recently deceased marine.

"Hi Sophie." ZIva said to her as she embraced her. "You're a little earlier than we expected."

"Hi," Sophie said as she noticed the the other occupants of the room turn to look at them. One of them appeared to be quite elderly but had kind eyes and the other was tall but had one of the widest smiles Sophie had ever seen. She guessed that these must be Ducky and Jimmy.

"Hi, I'm Sophie." Sophie said to the elderly gentlemen as she offered her hand to him.

"Yes, we have heard quite a lot about you, my dear. I am Doctor Mallard but most people call me Ducky." He spoke softly but with one of the most familiar accents that Sophie had grown up with as he shook her hand.

"And I'm Jimmy. His assistant." Jimmy said to her as he took her hand as well. She liked these two very much. They seemed like two calm individuals whom nothing could ever phase them like a battered rock against a stormy ocean, they would just take anything thrown at them. She guessed they must have to have this mentality to work the job they do. Behind them, the autopsy doors swung open again as Abby came in. Unlike these two lighthouses in a storm, Abby seemed like a person who felt for everything and everyone. A trait that made her one of the most compassionate people that Sophie had ever met but also the kind of person who any kind of major crisis caused her to freak out. Sophie barely had time to breathe before Abby descended and grabbed a hold of her.

"Oh my God, oh my God, I can't believe you are finally here! I know that you had to go back to the UK for a bit but then you seemed to completely drop of the radar and we never saw you until now. Tony and ZIva won't say what it is that you do just that it is really important to you and that they are proud of you but, oh my god, we all really missed you even though we didn't really know you that well but you are still technically the team's baby and you mean so much to us just because of that." Sophie heard about half of that as the other half was really muffled because Abby was squeezing her so hard. She wondered if this is what it felt like to be squeezed to death by the world's most concerned boa constrictor.

"I…I…missed…can't breathe…" Sophie spluttered as Abby finally let her go.

"I can't believe you would just leave like that after everything we all went through." Abby said as she stared at her.

"I came back though. And I talked to Tony and Ziva every night or most nights though. I just wasn't coming to live with them." Sophie tried to defend herself.

"It's okay. We'll talk about this a bit more later." Tony interrupted before Abby could say anything else to Sophie. "Right now, we still have a case to solve unless Gibbs's lets us go till tomorrow morning." Sophie tried to stifle her yawns. She kind of wanted to see them normally working but at the same time she was so tired. She remembered suddenly that she had never seen Tony and Ziva's house. She wondered if they were actually living in a house together or even if they were together. Tony and Ziva had never really mentioned it to her. She stuck near to Ziva as the two of them went back up into the bullpen.

Agent Gibbs had returned and carrying with him was five styrofoam cups and a huge red drink that had yellow spiky letters brandishing the word CAF-POW that Sophie guessed must be some American drink because she couldn't think of any shop in the UK or indeed abroad that sold it. Gibbs put a cup down in front of Tim, Tony, Ziva then handed the last styrofoam cup to her. Sophie could hardly stammer out a thank you. She didn't think that Gibbs even knew she was here yet.

"Hot chocolate." He said as he handed it to her. "Welcome back."

"Thank you." She said as she met the stare. She sipped it, ignoring the initial burn in favour of the chocolatey sweetness. She sank down till she was crosslegged on the floor leaning against a filing cabinet next to Ziva's desk. She sipped her hot chocolate slowly as she watched her parents and Tim get back to work. There seemed to be a lot of typing that went on for ages. The window over by stairs allowed her a view of the city skyline that appeared to become more colourful as the sun set. Sophie had seen quite a few sunsets in the past year from ones whilst sleeping in a muddle puddle during her training to ones where she was in a hotel overlooking a beach straight after her Gaza Strip mission but she had never seen one over a city skyline before. She found herself lying on the floor with her head turned so she could see the sun disappear behind a building. Around her she could hear the people over the partition packing up to go home but Tony and Ziva didn't seem to be reaching a break point any time soon. Tim had called Delilah about half an hour earlier to let her know that it was going to be a late one if there was a possibility of him coming home at all. He had ended the call with something that sounded like "But Sophie's here though." Sophie wondered just how much of the extended team knew about her. She didn't think for very long though because soon enough her eyes closed and she fell asleep on the bullpen floor.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Sophie," Sophie struggled to open her eyes. They felt like someone had decided to glue them together. Her arm felt numb and there was a funny feeling in her back.

"Hey, we need to go home now." She forced her eyes open as she registered who exactly was in front of her. Tony was kneeling in front of her as she realised that she had fallen asleep on the office floor. The office was on low level lighting and it appeared that only Tony and Ziva were left in there. She pulled herself up and leant against the filing cabinet as she tried to rub some feeling back into her arm.

"You've been asleep for about three hours. It's one in the morning now so we are gonna head home." Tony said as he helped pull her to her feet. Sophie shut her eyes again as she tried to shield the bright light from her eyes. All she wanted was to go back to sleep. She leant up against Tony as they waited for the elevator and wondered if she could possibly sleep standing up.

The parking lot was a lot more brisk at night than it had been during the day and Sophie struggled to hold her hoodie against her as they all crossed to the car. She slipped into the back and leant up against the door as her two parents say in the front seat. Watching the streetlights above her, she wondered if she had ever seen a city this bright at night. In her last visit to the states, she had stayed in the suburbs and her missions before that hadn't taken her to any brightly lit cities but more run down areas in the Middle East. In DC, however, there appeared to be a neon sign every few metres advertising something different. The journey was quick to her relief and soon they were pulling up to an apartment barely fifteen minutes from the navy yard.

"So Ziva and I used to live separately until a few months ago but we figured that we should probably be living together so we bought a new apartment which was closer to the navy yard and had another room." Sophie heard Tony say as he pulled her out of the car. Ziva lead the way up into the lobby as Tony carried Sophie's bag taking them into a fairly nice building. A few short minutes later, Ziva had lead them into an apartment that looked like it had been left quickly that morning. There were two glasses and beer bottles left on the coffee table and a half eaten bowl of popcorn. Sophie smiled remembering her room on campus when she had shown it to them the first time. Hers had been much worse with all of her things spread across the place. She stood frozen as she looked round the apartment. Immediately upon entering was the living area, she guessed with a flatscreen TV and a couch with a kitchen area directly to her right. Ahead of her was a corridor that at the end there appeared to be a bathroom with one room on the right and she guessed another room on the right which Tony was shoving her bag into.

"Your room hasn't been fully decorated yet but we figured you would want some kind of say in that." Ziva said quietly as she opened the door to what Sophie now knew to be her room. Inside was a twin sized bed with a spotted duvet cover on it as well as a couple of what looked like new towels. There was also a desk facing a window that looked out onto the city skyline. The desk was empty except for what looked like a few cards. She also had a closet and a dresser. Other than that, the room was pretty bare. She wondered briefly if they would let her put up some posters before she sank down into the bed. It felt so soft and so inviting so maybe she should just go to sleep now.

"Hey Sophie, you need to go shower, motek" she heard Ziva say to her. "You have been on a plane for a good part of the day." Ziva stroked her hair as Sophie groaned.

"But this bed is so comfortable." Sophie protested as she snuggled down.

"Nope. Shower time." Ziva said to her as she pulled her to her feet. "It will only take you a few minutes." She said as she practically shoved her into the bathroom. Ziva waited outside until she heard the shower running then went to go join Tony in the clearing up from the night before.

"How is she holding up?" Tony asked her as he put the bottles into the recycling.

"Jet lagged, I think. She is really tired. I'm just so happy that she is home. I feel like this is the first time that she is part of our family without NCIS being involved and I am so happy that she is here. She fell asleep on my feet earlier and I hope we don't end up spending all of our time at the office this summer." Ziva said as she rubbed her eyes.

"Yeah, wouldn't be much of a summer if all she did was watch us at work. I figured we could try and fit some shopping time in with her to try and decorate that room. Maybe Senior can join us for a bit. He is dying to meet her." Tony said thoughtfully.

"She could probably do with a doting grandparent. I think her experience of them so far shouldn't be limited to my sad excuse for a father." Ziva said as she finished the clearing up.

"I can only hope that Senior doesn't mess this up. We've mended a lot of fences but geez, I need him to not mess this up." Tony said wearily as he crossed the kitchen to hug Ziva. "We really can't mess this up."

"It will be okay." Ziva said as she returned the hug.

Sophie pulled her pajamas on and sat down on the edge of the tub to brush her teeth. She was so ready for bed but she did have to admit that the bathroom was pretty nice with a decent sized tub, clean floors and no cracks. She finished brushing her teeth and exited the bathroom. She could see Tony and Ziva hugging in the kitchen and wondered whether she should interupt them. Unit J didn't have any married carers so she hadn't exactly been exposed to people in relationships before. She looked back on the last mission where she had spent most of the time either out on the streets or in her room. She hesitated just long enough for them to catch sight of her and instead of breaking apart they just held out their arms for her to come join them. Sophie allowed them to envelop her into the group hug and wondered whether she had ever been in a hug like this. She felt herself sinking into Ziva and wondered whether they would let her go to bed now. It had been a very long day.

Sophie woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon. Ben had once said that if there was a sure fire way to get Sophie up in the morning, bacon was the way to go and there was definitely some cooking in the kitchen. The only thing was, that the sheets were so comfortable. She stretched out under the covers and decided that those last six hours of sleep had been some of the best she had had in her life. The very best had been the night she finished level one training and slept for thirty six hours straight but those had been a pretty close contender. She decided that her love for bacon outweighed the pull of another few hours of sleep and decided to go follow her nose.

"Morning, kiddo." She heard Tony say as she went into the kitchen. McGee was there as well sipping coffee and Sophie was strangely reminded of her time staying with Tony and Ziva for the drugs mission. They had had mission briefings every morning then as well.

"We have somehow managed to convince Gibbs to allow us to work from home today. We still have to crack this case but we know that you don't want to spend your whole summer watching us at NCIS so today is a day where we are here instead. Delilah will also be joining us around lunch. You remember Delilah?" Tony asked her.

"Tim's..." Sophie turned to face McGee, "Did you propose to her yet?" Sophie asked him.

"I did and thankfully she said yes." Tim said as he looked up at her. "Tying the knot at some point in the winter which is more than I can say for your parents." Sophie didn't miss the death glares that they aimed at Tim.

"There isn't really any rush." Ziva said quietly as she handed Sophie some bacon and toast. McGee didn't look convinced.

"Well, anyway. Delilah is coming here later to meet you. She has been looking forward to it for a while. And is Senior coming round..." McGee trailed off as he caught sight of Tony's expression.

"Who is Senior? Sophie asked through a mouthful of food.

"My father." Tony said sinking down next to her. "He really wants to meet you and in his words not mine, "spoil you like no tomorrow"." Sophie smiled at that.

"Do I have a grandmother as well?" Sophie asked looking up to them.

"Unfortunately no. My mother died and Tony's died when he was ten so no grandmothers unfortunately." Ziva said quietly and didn't miss the slight sadness that passed her face.

"What should I call him?" Sophie asked quietly as she finished off her toast. "I don't know whether I want to call him grandpa because I don't even call you guys Mum and Dad." She added.

"Well, we can talk about that. Do you want to call us Mum and Dad?" Tony asked her as Sophie stared at her plate.

" I don't know. It feels weird calling Ziva, Mum. I tried to in my head but it just wouldn't work." Sophie said quietly staring at the pattern of crumbs on her plate. Those three there kind of looked like a flower.

"I agree with you there. I always imagined it being the Hebrew word which I thought would fit a bit better. But then I thought of it for Tony and he fits the English word better." Ziva mused as Sophie wrung her hands out under the table.

"Ima. It fits better, I guess." Sophie said quietly. "And I guess Dad works too."

"Okay. See how you feel about using them. We don't mind either way. This is for you, not us. We want to be your parents but you have to feel comfortable with it too." Tony said to her as Ziva nodded along with him.

"Sorry, Tim, but there is no way in hell that I am calling you Uncle."


	3. Chapter 3

Anthony DiNozzo Sr had spent the past two hours in the departures lounge in New York. He had already had a coffee and read the newspaper from that morning and now the chair was uncomfortable. His suitcase had been checked in already and all he carried with him was a cellphone, wallet and a jacket. Across the lounge from him was what looked like a businessman reading the Times sipping a coffee and he was vastly reminded of himself almost forty years ago. The short hair cut, the well-cut suit and the relaxed demeanour of someone who was important and knew it. These days he had traded the shady business deals for a more modest life in an apartment in Queens but every time he saw someone looking well off he couldn't help but try to turn up the charm maybe get a few free drinks here and there. He had tried to cut it out after discovering how much his son knew about his life but even Tony couldn't quite stop the adrenaline rush that came with securing a business deal. He was almost about to get up and go talk to this man before he stopped himself. This was his chance to do something right. He was going to meet his grand daughter.

He had been in his apartment after a day of people watching in a cafe in the plaza when he got a phone call. He had been surprised to see Tony calling on a Wednesday evening, he usually kept his calls to a weekend. He had picked up the phone to hear sniffling and then the one line that fills any parent with dread.

"Dad, I've got to tell you something." This coupled with what sounded like crying, Senior had been prepared to hear a call that Ziva had been hurt or worse killed and he had momentarily felt terrified.

"Junior, is everything okay? It's not Ziva is it? Is Ziva alright?" He had asked hoping that it would have been anything other than Ziva. They may not have been married but it was plain as day how much she meant to him. He had felt extreme loss at the death of his first and only true love and he hoped that his son would not experience that.

"Ziva? Oh Dad, she's fine, well as fine as she can be. Are you sitting down? This could take a while." Tony seemed to be more in control of himself now but Senior was still sure he could hear a cracking in his voice. He followed the instructions and sat himself down in a chair.

"Junior, what's going on?" "Dad, Ziva and I… well… there really is no easy way to tell you this but we have a child." Senior was sure he had misheard and thought it was a strange way to announce a pregnancy. He couldn't understand why Tony sounded so sad.

"Junior, that's wonderful news. I didn't know that you two had made it official. How far along is she?" He had said jovially.

"What? No, she's not pregnant. She was about eleven years ago. We were on a mission together back when we first met. She got pregnant then and then her father made her go back to Israel and she had Sophie there and then her father took her away and we never saw her again until a few months ago and now she is gone." Tony said all of this rather fast.

"Hey son, slow down. Ziva had a baby back when you first met?" "Yes. We were on a mission together." "And her father took the baby away?"

"Yes Dad. He took Sophie away and then sent Ziva to Africa to die but we rescued her and brought her back to the states but he still wouldn't let her know where Sophie was and we only found out where she was a few months ago when she came to stay with us but I can't tell you what she was doing with us but anyway she didn't know that she was our daughter and then when she found out she wanted to leave and now she is gone and we haven't heard from her in over a week and I can't do this Dad." Senior was speechless. His son had a daughter? Had the moon fallen out of orbit? Had the magnetic north poles reversed? What had happened with the earth.

"Dad? Are you still there?" He heard his son say over the phone.

"It's a lot to take in Junior. You have a daughter and you didn't tell me?" Senior said as he tried to understand what he was hearing.

"Yes. In my defence I didn't find out till about four years ago either and we didn't tell anyone. But I can't understand how to deal with this? How do you cope with your daughter being taken?" Tony's voice had trailed off then and Senior could hear his son crying on the other end on the phone. By this point he had gone online to book a ticket to Washington DC.

"He will call you back." He heard the familiar Israeli voice say and realized that Ziva was there.

"I am on my way." He had said to her and he had already booked his flight. All this had happened three months ago. He had stayed with his son for a week and tried to understand all that had happened. He had heard so many stories of this child and wondered if they would ever get to meet her. Both of them seemed so unsure of whether they would get to see her again and he had felt like he was on eggshells the whole week because they seemed to want to talk about her but at the same time it was so painful for them. He had gone back to New York after a few days after it seemed like there wouldn't be any more news. A few weeks later he got a call saying that an agreement had been reached and she would come to DC for a few weeks in the summer and they could all meet her then. He had seemed ecstatic then and both him and Ziva had been so happy. He had come down again for a few days when his son and Ziva finally made a big leap and moved in together. Watching Junior with Ziva had been so rewarding and he had never felt happier for them both. It was only when he saw the bare room with the spotted duvet cover on a twin bed that he realized that they were missing someone. Tony had shown him a picture of the young girl and he had seen the eyes on his son reflected back in the photograph that he truly realized that this was his granddaughter. He had missed so much of his son growing up that he was determined to see his granddaughter grow up in some way or another. When Tony had called him up a few days ago to invite him down to DC to meet Sophie, he had booked his flight within the minute and now he was waiting in an airport for his flight to be called.

"Flight number 207 is ready for boarding." An electronic voice came over the tannoy and Senior gathered his belongings together to head towards the boarding desk.

"Going to see family sir?" The attendant asked as he checked his boarding ticket.

"Yes, my son and granddaughter. It's been a while." He said as he was shown to his seat.

"Well, have a nice time Sir." The flight attendant said as he went to go see another passenger. Senior tried to relax back in the seat but he felt more nervous than anything. He wondered what his granddaughter was really like. He loved using that word: granddaughter. For so many of his friends with grown-up children, they loved bragging about their children and grandchildren and he had never quite seen the appeal. Sure his son was a federal agent, but with friends like his then not many of them would have considered it a worthy occupation so he steered clear of discussing his son's occupation. His pondering of his new found grandfather status meant that the journey felt shorter than usual and within a matter of hours he was walking through the arrivals gate to see his son standing waiting for him. He felt only slightly disappointed that he was alone.

"Hi Dad," Tony said to him as he embraced his son.

"Junior. Where is the rest of the family?" He asked him as they headed outside.

"They are back at the appointment and yes, Sophie is here. She is still getting used to calling us as her parents. I have finally earned the achievement of Dad." He said as he did a mini fistpump as they headed out of the airport.

"How is that going?" Senior asked as he saw the genuine happiness that filled his face.

"It's amazing you know? After so long, she's just here. She is still trying to fit herself in and sometimes she seems to get unsure of herself then other times she fits in so seamlessly. She loves movies as well which drives Ziva crazy. Ziva seems so much more at ease with her around as well. I am just so happy that she is here." Tony said as he drove along the highway leading back to DC.

"How long is she here for anyway?" Senior asked him.

"Till the end of August when she has to go back to school," Tony said as his smile faltered a little bit. "We are trying not to think about it. She only got here yesterday. She has met most of the team and Tim's fiancé Delilah. Mostly I think she is trying to spend time with Ziva. She vaguely remembers Ziva from when she was little and I think she is trying to make up for lost time. They both speak Hebrew which drives me round the bend when I can't understand any of what they are saying." Tony said as they reached the centre of DC.

"Just as crazy as she feels when you two talk about movies. I always felt like that when you and your mother would watch all these movies and reference them for so long that I would lose you two to the movie world." Senior reminisced as he thought back to when his son and wife would curl up and watch hundreds of old movies that he never had the patience for.

"Yeah. Anyway, here we are." Tony said as he pulled up to the new apartment. Senior felt the butterflies in his stomach start to make an appearance again. He ignored them and followed his son back up to the new apartment.

Sophie heard the door open and looked up to her Dad coming in. She had spent the morning trying to call the Ima and Dad in her head. The older man following her Dad into the apartment looked so much like him that she felt a little surprised. Was her father cloned from this man?

"Hey Ziva, hey Soph. How is it going?" She put her book down and went over to greet the new guy.

"So Sophie, this is my father…" Tony trailed off as he realized that they hadn't discussed what they were going to call him.

"Senior. We can just go with Senior. And I already know that your name is Sophie." Senior said beside him and he shook Sophie's hand. Sophie smiled as she looked up into his eyes. He seemed nice. Like the kind of man who had seen a lot but still loved life. It wasn't as deep as the stares that Gibbs would give but still nice.

"Hi Senior. Ima said you were coming. I'm still getting used to the names." She said apologetically. "We were just about to start having lunch." She motioned to where Ziva was in the kitchen.

"Ziva! It's been so long." Senior gave Ziva a kiss on the cheek as Sophie followed them towards the kitchen. She was about to eat a piece of cucumber out of the salad when Ziva slapped her hand away.

"You can put the salad on the table." She scolded in Hebrew but with a smile on her face. Sophie half laughed before taking the salad to the table and sneaking the cucumber anyway. McGee and Delilah were coming in a few minutes and they were all ready to enjoy a lunch with the family all there.


	4. Chapter 4

Orli Elbaz was annoyed. Despite being a Mossad operative for over forty years, a senior official and now director for five years, her assistant had managed to screw up her tea again. She could not understand how such a simple, menial task could be mishandled so badly. She sipped the now lukewarm tea, grimacing as the taste hit her and checked her email. One stood out as something that had flagged from an ex operative who had immigrated to the states. As she scanned the email, she realized it was concerning the operative Ziva David. Orli had known Ziva for a long time however it had been several years since she had last spoken to her. She could remember Ziva's rage the last time they had spoken where Ziva had blamed her for the loss of her daughter. Despite being one of Eli's closest confidantes, Orli had had no knowledge of where the child was as Eli had never spoken of it. The email was from a routine check on all ex Mossad operatives and it showed a picture of three people. She instantly recognized Ziva and she could see that Agent DiNozzo was also in the picture standing with his arm around her but what was most interesting was the young girl that stood between them. A comment underneath said "Ziva David, Anthony DiNozzo Jr, and unnamed? Child suspected to be missing child of Ziva David and Anthony DiNozzo reunited. Unclear as to how this happened." Orli stared at the photo for a few minutes as she began to pick out details of the child. Curly hair that was pulled up into a ponytail, eyes that seemed to match that of the man beside her, skin the same colour of Ziva's. "Leyla. I need to make a call." ************ "So you're saying that Dad got expelled from three different boarding schools?" Sophie stared at Senior with disbelieving eyes. "Three different ones in four years?" "He did. It took a year at military school before he was able to straighten himself out enough to go to college." Senior chuckled as they both sank down onto the couch of the living room. "I mean, I thought I was a trouble maker but that takes it to a whole new level. Dad, what did you do?" Sophie said as Tony sank down into the chair opposite them and ran his hand through his hair. "Ummm. A few things… I thought I told you to set her an example not give her ideas." Tony said to Senior as Senior turned to face the eleven year old next him. "Well mostly it was stuff like persistent disobedience. Talking back to the teachers although there was one time where he snuck out of his dorm room and ran across the rooftops naked claiming that he was free spirit." Senior added as Sophie started laughing. "James Mortesting bet me fifty dollars that I wouldn't do it. I proved him wrong." Tony said as he smiled faintly at the memory. "The principal caught me and i had to explain with a straight face why I was naked on the roof of my dorm room. I don't think he even gave me an hour to pack my bags before I was gone." Sophie tried to straighten her face out as she laughed at the idea of her forty something old father streaking across a rooftop. "Well, anyway, I am sure it is not as bad as some of the stuff that Ziva got up to in her youth." Senior said as Ziva went to sit next to Tony. "No. I was the good child mostly. Although my father's definition of a good child was definitely very different. I was a ballet dancer for a long time but that stopped when I turned sixteen and was enlisted." Ziva said. "You were a dancer?" Sophie asked staring wide eyed at Ziva. She hadn't imagined that at all. With her mother's trademark cargo pants and hair tied up in a pony tail, she had imagined her to be running through the dirt and beating up people rather than a young girl in a tutu. "I was for a time. Ballet is a sport of complete control - something my father endorsed. It made for good practice when it came down to fighting." "Oh right. That makes more sense I guess." Sophie nodded. They didn't really teach dance at Unit J, preferring to start the children off early with martial arts. Sophie had always excelled in any form of martial arts, her technique always made up for her small stature and she wondered if in another life, she would have been a ballet dancer as well. Her knowledge of dance was limited. She had seen a bootlegged copy of the Nutcracker and it looked super hard. Ben had laughed at her when she had attempted to do a turn on her tip toes. She had laughed at him when his version of a leap looked more like someone slipping on a banana peel. "So Miss Sophie, why is it that I have only heard about you now?" Senior's voice jerked her from the memory of Ben's attempt at a ballet leap. She had no idea what to say. The classified version couldn't be told and she wasn't about to spill secrets of Unit J to him. She looked in panic up at Ziva who was biting her lip, hands clasped together as she thought. "My father did not approve of a pregnancy." Ziva started as she tried to find the best way to tell this story. "Sophie was born in Israel and my father, well, he was a very controlling and powerful man as well as my boss. He took Sophie away shortly after her birth and made it incredibly difficult for me to see her. Sophie was eventually sent to…" she paused as she tried to stick close to the truth but there was no way she could reveal the existence of a secret government society. "a school in the UK. A boarding school that takes in kids very young. I wasn't able to get any information out of my father and it became fruitless to try and I hoped she had been adopted out to a loving family." Ziva finished although this wasn't the answer to the question that Senior had asked. Senior stared at her for a few seconds. "Junior said that he couldn't tell me how she came back to you." Senior said confused. Sophie looked down at the floor. "We can't tell you the full truth. That is, in essence, what happened. There are a few details missing but that is the truth." Tony said as he looked at his father. "Why can't Sophie stay with you full time? Why is it that she is only allowed visits?" Senior pressed and Tony was reminded of an interrogation tactic where this was commonly used. "It's complicated." Tony said trying to end the conversation. Senior sensed the finality in his tone and backed off slightly. "Whatever they have got you guys mixed up in, I hope it works out okay." Senior said as he stared at the young girl. She looked far too young to be mixed up in all this. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around a park near to the apartment. Sophie had spent the majority of her young childhood running around fields and woods with the other junior agents so being outside surrounded by greenery was welcome. She walked side by side with her grandfather who reminded her of a retired James Bond type, except for him being old and a bit swarmy. She had met types like him before on missions, usually the more senior directors who were patronizing and couldn't see past the idea of a child being able to complete a mission. He didn't seem like that though and she guessed it was because he had no idea what she did. So instead of talking about her life, she asked him about his past. After listening to him talk for a few minutes about his business dealings, she realized that it was a very real possibility that he would have ended up on the watch list of Unit J and possibly have been taken down by a new recruit. She guessed he would have been a C list mission with a small amount of time going into it. A list missions were the big fish missions that were designed to bring down international threats such as terror groups, international cartels, mafia type missions. Ones that pose the biggest threats and would require time and agents. B list missions were those limited to a single country but were still powerful such as gang related violence, cartels within the UK etc. These would also require time and agents but little international involvement. C List missions were those types of missions that were short and would require a single agent. These were often shady businesses and business dealings. D List missions were copy and destroy type missions which were a short burst of focus which was designed to get information but wouldn't require agents to have a complicated backstory. Sophie's past two missions were A list missions although her Gaza mission had been significantly more dangerous than her Mexican mission. Still it seemed that Senior, despite his shady business dealings, his heart seemed in the right place. He talked of funny stories and of private jets. Maybe he was just used to charming money out of people but not actually robbing them. He bought her an ice cream from a street vendor and Sophie decided that she liked him. "Did I ever tell you about the time that I was accused of murder?" Senior suddenly asked her as Sophie nearly choked on her ice cream. "What no!" Sophie started at him gobsmacked. Senior accused of murder. "It was NCIS that accused me actually." Sophie turned to stare at her parents who had taken a sudden interest at the weather. "I was framed for the murder of Navy Reserve Lieutenant who I had a business dealing with but then he backed out and I woke up the next day in a Rolls Royce with his body in the back." Sophie nearly fell over when she heard that and she thought she had seen some crazy stuff. "How did you end up there?" Sophie asked wondering how on earth that must have happened. "It turns out I was drugged and placed there and someone else killed him and put his body there. Junior had every right to arrest me." Senior reminisced as they walked through the park. "Dad arrested you?" "Well, him and the team did. They figured it out though. Miss Abby really works wonders." Senior remarked as Sophie finished off her ice cream. "Abby does." Tony said as he and Ziva caught up to them. He reached forward and swung Sophie up into the air so she was sitting on his shoulders. She felt a little embarrassed because who gets carried when they are eleven but she couldn't suppress the smile and she looked down at her family. She was completely unaware that all of them were being watched. ***************** Officer Ivan had had a pretty awful week. First of all he had messed up in the office in Tel Aviv, causing a screw up that had nearly compromised two operatives and nearly cost them their lives. It had been a miracle that the extraction team had been able to get there in time but the screw up had caused there to be lost information and a setback of nearly six months. Being pulled into the directors office had cemented his knowledge that chances are, he would either be losing his job or his life and the possibility of both. After the intense screaming session, it had almost been a relief when he had been told that he was being sent to DC for a surveillance mission and a month of docked pay. He felt that he had gotten off lightly. The apartment in DC was terrible located above a crack den but after the intense screw up he had made, he wasn't surprised that they weren't shelling out thousands of dollars for him to live a life of luxury. He had been through worse though and listening to junkies throw up at night was a small price to pay for keeping his job. His only job was now to watch the lives of three people. An NCIS special agent, an ex Mossad Officer and what looked like an eleven year old child who was probably their kid. he vaguely recognized her but couldn't place her and wondered if he had seen her before. The ex Mossad Officer her definitely recognized but more by reputation than any actual meeting. Who could forget the infamous Ziva David who was Director David's daughter? She didn't look anything like her would have imagined as she walked hand in hand with the NCIS special agent. He was known only to Officer Ivan from the surveillance photos and the elderly man with them was his father. Posing as a wildlife photographer meant he could get away with taking pictures of anything and he easily snapped three photos of the man lifting the girl onto his shoulders. He wondered why Director Elbaz was so intent on getting photographs of the little girl. 


	5. Chapter 5

Director Elbaz studied the high-quality colour surveillance photograph now in front of her. She could easily pick out Ziva from the little group, her smile lit up and popped out of the photograph, far happier than she had ever seen her before. She could also recognize the tall man standing next to her as Agent Tony DiNozzo. She had never really liked him. The older man also with them looked to be Agent DiNozzo's father. She had seen him on the odd watchlist as his business dealings were closer to that of a scam than that of an honest man. The child though was one that she knew she had seen before. It was also now obvious that that was obviously a child of Ziva's. If anything, the hair gave it away. She was dark and curly haired much like that of her mother at that age. Her relation to Agent DiNozzo was unclear. She could not remember if Eli David had ever mentioned the child's father to her but now she was in the same picture as Agent DiNozzo, it wouldn't have been entirely too far-fetched to assume that he was her father. No matter to her though, it was clear that he cared for her a great deal.

She picked up the tea beside her and took a sip. Finally, her assistant had done it correctly. Piping hot with the tea leaves steeped for just the correct amount of time. The file beside her lay unopened as she looked up to her computer monitor. An email had arrived with an update on the terror group that they had been watching for quite some time. A group responsible for the death of many Israeli citizens and some in the neighbouring regions. She remembered back to almost a year previously when they had managed to eliminate almost thirty main players from the group and they had assumed that the group would fall apart without any direction. She vaguely remembered being a young girl when her mother had scolded her for not removing the root of the weed.

"It will grow back, you must always remove the root of the plant to ensure that it will never grow back." She wished she had heeded her mother's advice because they were back, stronger than before. The name escaped her but the story of the dragon or was it dog, that when you cut the head off one, it grew two more in its place. She could not remember the details but the moral of the story was relevant and she was determined to pull this weed out of the roots before it could grow back any stronger.

Sophie marched into Gibbs's house with the air of someone who owned the place. She had spent a few nights here on her previous mission so knew her way around easily enough. Gibbs smiled faintly at her when he saw her walk in. She had grown a little since the last time he had seen her or it could just be her hair that gave the illusion of growth. He had taken a step and invited the whole team over for steaks around the fire. Having never seen his own daughter grow up, it felt like Sophie was a mixture between the ghost of a daughter he had never seen grow, and a granddaughter he wouldn't have. Sure enough, the team were like his family, Ziva close enough to his own daughter and the way Sophie treated him, well he could guess that he could take on the role of a grandparent to her as well. She led the way into the house followed closely by Tony and Ziva who smiled at him as he hugged Sophie. DiNozzo Senior also came in looking a little out of place. It was not lost on him that Sophie had seen more at home here than she did with him.

Sophie let go of Gibbs and started to do her cursory walk around the house. She remembered it being drilled so hard into her during training. Always know the building you are in as well as all exits and possible hazards. The house itself looked exactly the same as she remembered it. The ancient TV, an open fire, and a couch that had seen better days. She guessed the room she had stayed in previously probably hadn't changed either. She was about to go and investigate the basement that her parents had told her so much about. She remembered vaguely a story about a boat and wondered how on earth he managed to get it out.

"Sophie!" She heard her mother call as she was about to turn the doorknob. "McGee is here and so is Delilah." Ah yes. He had heard a lot about them and had looked forward to meeting her. McGee looked the same as ever and he was pushing a wheelchair up the ramp with a brown-haired smiling woman in it. Sophie liked her immediately and went up to shake her hand.

"I have heard so much about you!" Delilah said enthusiastically as she took Sophie's hand. Sophie doubted very much that she had. "I knew some alumni of the school you go to," Delilah said conspiratorially as she winked at Sophie. Sophie felt very taken aback. She knew people from Unit J? Or was she just messing with her.

"Delilah has a higher security clearance than all of us and she has worked on some pretty classified stuff." McGee tried to explain.

"I've worked with young people as well," Delilah added. So she did know. Sophie stared at her trying to keep the look of shock off her face. Sophie longed to ask her more questions. Who had she worked with? She felt sure she probably knew them, Unit J was pretty small after all. She was about to start asking these questions when Ziva came over and pulled her away to introduce her to someone else who had just walked in. It appeared to be a woman in a hijab followed by a girl who looked to be about Sophie's age.

"Sophie this is Leyla and Amira." Ziva introduced her to them. Leyla looked to be the same age as Ziva who happily followed her to the kitchen leaving Sophie and Amira to their own devices.

"Hi," Sophie said awkwardly.

"Hi," Amira replied. Her voice was more American than her mothers and Sophie guessed it was something to do with the years she had spent here.

"My mom told me that you are Tony and Ziva's daughter," Amira said as she nodded towards Sophie's parents.

"Yeah. My mom had me in Israel but my grandfather didn't approve of it so sent me away and they only just found me. I go to school in the UK." Sophie explained trying to give an explanation that wasn't ridiculous.

"My mother had me in Iraq and her family didn't approve either so sent someone to try and kill my father who was trying to get us out but we were rescued by my grandfather and we lived in Mexico for a bit until my moms mom tried to get us to return to Iraq by sending people to come and kidnap us. We moved to DC after that." Amira smiled. Sophie stared at her when she said that story.

"I guess neither of us came into the world in the traditional sense then," Sophie said as they both sat down on the couch.

"There must be more to your story. I mean, where did your grandfather send you?" Amira asked as she turned to face her.

"There is but a lot of it is classified. My parents are Tony and Ziva but Ziva's father didn't want her to be pregnant. She was working for Israeli intelligence at the time and he had a lot of power there. He took me away after I was born and forced my mom to do what he wanted her to do and when she refused to do it, he sent me to the UK when I was three and I stayed there for a while. I can't tell you how I met my parents again but I'm so glad I know them now." Sophie said as she looked at Amira. From certain angles, they could be twins. They had the same dark curly hair, same build, same height even.

"I've never met anyone who has a story to match mine," Amira said excitedly. "Everyone else is pretty boring."

"Yeah. Everyone else seems to have pretty boring family lives." Sophie agreed.

"Well, your parents are federal agents and do all kinds of crazy stuff. My mom works in an office." Amira said making a face.

"So do my parents most of the time. I spent most of my first night in the states on the floor by my parent's desks." Sophie said empathetically. "I like it here with them though. I met my grandfather on my Dad's side yesterday. He's really nice and he tells lots of funny stories. He told me about the time when my Dad ran naked through the corridor of his dorm rooms. That was pretty funny. Do you know the rest of the team pretty well?" Sophie asked Amira who was laughing at the idea of Agent DiNozzo running through a dorm room naked.

"I know Gibbs pretty well. He was best friends with my grandfather. He's also my godfather and I know the team vaguely through him. They have protected us a few times over the years. Have you ever been in the basement here?" Amira asked as she stood up and started leading her toward the basement door.

"No, I have heard stories about it but never been in it," Sophie replied as Amira turned the doorknob. Together they went into the basement. It smelled like a mixture of a sawmill, a winery, and something that Sophie recognized almost as gunpowder. It felt almost like the armoury at Unit J. Amira led her down the battered staircase into the dimly lit basement.

"Gibbs spends ages down here," Amira said as she ran her hand along a smoothened rocking chair stood on the workbench. "He made me a boat once." She added. Sophie wondered if this was the famous boat story.

"I heard that it was a full-size boat. I can't see how he would have got it out of here though." Sophie asked as she studied the walls of the basement. It looked very solid.

"I can't remember the boat. It had to be taken apart in a murder investigation." Amira added as she rocked the chair back and forth. Sophie stared as she dropped that casually.

"How many murder investigations have you been caught up in?" Sophie asked her as she joined her over by the rocking chair.

"I don't know. Most of them happened when I was a little kid. I don't remember it much. You?" Amira asked her jokingly.

"Oh, I've been caught up in a few myself." Sophie laughed. More than Amira would ever know about.

"Weird lives we both lead. I thought I was the oddball." Amira laughed as both girls stared at the rocking chair.

"There you girls are." A loud voice startled both of them. Sophie saw her father motion for them to come back upstairs. "What were you talking about?" He asked Sophie as they both climbed the staircase back to the main level.

"How many murder investigations we have both been caught up in," Sophie replied sweetly. Amira laughed as she walked past him.

"I imagine you two have quite a lot in common," Tony said as they both came out of the basement.

"Oh, we do. Amira and I are quite similar. Neither of us has grown up in the most traditional of circumstances." Sophie said as they joined Ziva.

"No, I guess neither of you really have."

 **A/N: Apologies for the eighteen-month hiatus since regular posting. I can't guarantee any regular updates - such is university. Thank you to everyone who has stuck by the story and left very positive comments on the last chapter I posted. I wasn't sure how many people would continue to follow this story and I am thrilled to see how many people are still following Sophie's story. Also, I can't remember everything I wrote in Split so if there are any mistakes that contradict what I have written before then I'm sorry! If there are any glaring plot holes that contradict Split then please let me know!**

 **Thank you as always for remaining so positive! Updates will be provided as soon as I get around to writing them.**


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